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I did not become a camera nerd accidentally, it runs in my family. My dad’s first career, back in the early 80’s, was “Photographer”. We had a darkroom in the attic of my childhood home. My dad shot photos for commercials and wedding and engagements and all the usual photographer stuff back when film photography was just referred to as “Photography” because it was the only kind that existed.
My dad passed away about a year ago, and while he wasn’t in super great health, no one expected him to pass away so quickly. As a result, he had tons of stuff that my mom was just kinda left with.
I went over to my parent’s house the other day and fixed a few things for my mom and found some old photo stuff. My mom mentioned there was another camera if I wanted it, but it was super dusty and had been sitting under a bed for decades. Of course, I wanted it. As I’m sure you can probably guess from the title, it was a Pentax 645 with a 75mm f2.8 lens.
I’ve kinda been wanting to do some film photography for a while, but the barrier to entry seemed pretty high. Good film cameras are old and finicky and expensive and film and processing is also expensive. When I found this one, though, I knew I was going to get it working and take some pictures with it. First off, it was free, so that helps a lot. Second, it was my dad’s, so it feels like I should restore it to its former glory and take some pictures with it.
This camera came out in 1984, when I was 2 years old (actually just a couple of weeks before my second birthday, according to this article), and I think my dad must have picked one up pretty soon after they were announced. First off, this camera has a pretty low serial number, according to this database, second, if he had bought it later when I was older I feel like I would have remembered him buying it.
My first order of business was to clean it up. The outside of the camera was super dusty, but luckily it sat for years with a lens on it and with a film back attached, so the inside of the camera is spotless. I didn’t see any dust or mildew inside the lens or prism. I DID, however see some gnarly old batteries. Batteries that probably predate the first Clinton administration. They EXPIRED in 1996, and according to my google skills, alkaline batteries have a shelf life of 5-10 years, so using the low end, the batteries were from 1991. if I get really bored I’ll look up when Duracell changed their battery branding and see if I can get a better idea of when they’re from.
Anyway, the ancient batteries had leaked into the battery holder and caused a ton of corrosion, so my first order of business was to get rid of all of it and clean up the contacts enough to get some new batteries in there making a good connection.
After a couple of hours of work with sand paper, a metal file, cotton swabs, and rubbing alcohol, I finally had the battery holder clean and free of corrosion. I have tons of rechargeable AA batteries in the house, but I’d read online that these cameras don’t seem to like rechargeable batteries, so I ordered some regular disposable alkaline batteries from Amazon. I put them in the holder, put the holder in the camera, and..it did nothing.
After a good bit of frustration, I realized I was actually putting the batteries in wrong. At first glance it looks like they all go with their positive terminal toward the spring connectors, but in fact one battery on each side of the battery holder goes the opposite way. The spring that has a little metal button on it is for the one battery on that side that will put the negative terminal toward the metal spring. I’ll update this with photos so it makes more sense when I get home. Edit – Watch the video, fast forward to 6:28 and I show this in detail.
I corrected the battery installation, put the battery holder back in…and still nothing. I was starting to think the camera was totally dead and I might have to send it off for repair, then I read a post on a Pentax forum that suggested I leave the batteries in for a while. Apparently if the camera has been totally dead with no battery power and the button cell that serves as a “backup” battery is also dead, it can take a while for it to “Wake up”. I left the batteries in and went to do something crazy with Ava and came back in half an hour or so and the LCD was on! It’s Alive!
So that’s where we sit right now. Since it turns on and appears to work I bought a few things for it. I first ordered some cheap black and white film on amazon to see if it’s actually going to work. I also picked up a 58mm UV filter and lens cap to protect the lens since it came with a lens hood but no lens cap.
This camera doesn’t do a ton without film in it so I’m really waiting for that film to show up so I can make sure it will advance the film and I can set the proper modes and stuff. I’m clearly an optimist, though, because this morning I went ahead and ordered a roll of Portra 400 to really try the camera out once I’m sure it’s functional. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow!
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[…] you’ve been following along, I inherited a Pentax 645 Medium Format film camera from my late father. I’ve been trying to […]